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A desire to keep the Owen Sound Harbour “alive” has prompted Parrish & Heimbecker to initiate the process to take over ownership of the port, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The harbour is a “very important” shipping terminal for P&H, which owns and operates the Owen Sound grain elevators, and is a key part of the company’s supply chain, said Rob Bryson, the firm’s director for eastern Canada.

“We’ve been worried for years about the problems and we’re almost being forced out of business because of the dredging issue,” he said in an interview.

“To keep the port viable, we need to step up and do this.”

Bryson told The Sun Times in November 2011 that delivering and retrieving cargo at the Owen Sound grain elevators will likely have to cease within three years if the harbour is not dredged.

Transport Canada has made it clear that it will not dredge the port until it is divested to another interest. The federal agency has not said whether it would dredge the harbour itself if it is divested or if it would provide funding and permit the new owners to undertake the work.

Owen Sound Mayor Deb Haswell announced at a council meeting Monday night that Transport Canada has selected P&H as the entity with which it will participate in divestiture negotiations.

The firm submitted a proposal to assume ownership of the harbour by a July 31 deadline imposed by Transport Canada as part of its latest port divestiture program, which is to expire March 31.

P&H is now reviewing environmental and technical information, provided by Transport Canada, and is expected to decide over the next four to six weeks whether it will continue with the divestiture discussions, Haswell said.

Bryson said the company signed a non-disclosure agreement that forbids it from discussing the negotiations with the media.

The company is “very committed” to its divestiture proposal, as evidenced by “the amount of time and energy we’re spending on it,” he said.

Along with the grain elevators, P&H also owns the property the structure is on, which abuts the water.

Transport Canada is looking to divest itself of the harbour as well as some adjacent property.

Haswell said the city would like the port to continue to have the “same look and feel” as it does today, no matter who owns it. She said the city is committed to working with P&H and Transport Canada to develop and maintain a mixed-use harbour and to ensure public access is maintained at the port.

Bryson said P&H fully intends to maintain public access to the harbour.

“The biggest part of the port is not commercially active. The city’s very focused on making sure the public access is maintained and we think that’s just logical,” he said.

The company also hopes to ramp up activity at the port, if it assumes ownership, he said.

The city decided not to submit a divestiture proposal to Transport Canada due to the “risks and liability that were identified by the city” and because “the city is not in a position to operate a port given the specific expertise required,” the city said in a statement.